A judge has ordered Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, to testify about the bailout of AIG in a case where the government is accused of illegally appropriating the insurer and using it “to covertly funnel billions of dollars to foreign entities”. Government lawyers had argued Mr Bernanke was too senior and the facts had been raked over too often for his appearance to be necessary.

Judge Thomas Wheeler disagreed. Compelling Mr Bernanke to travel to a Washington law firm to answer questions about the government bailout, he wrote on Monday that the “court cannot fathom having to decide this multibillion-dollar claim without the testimony”.